Easthampton, MA Tier 3

Tier 3 · solid schools · 84 miles from downtown Boston, about 122 minutes door-to-door at peak · 62% of households own their home.

Easthampton, Massachusetts
Easthampton · photo via Wikipedia
4BR house
$450k
$350k townhouse · $260k condo
Cheaper than 89% of MA towns
Property tax
$7,000/yr
$15.50 per $1,000 on that house
Lower than 75% of MA towns
To downtown Boston
122 min
No MBTA rail
Further than 95% of MA towns
Schools
29th pct
growth 43rd · 93% graduate
Behind 71% of MA districts

marks the Massachusetts median of $750k for a 4BR, $9,100 in tax and 62 min to Boston. Prices and the tax bill are estimates, not appraisals.

About Easthampton

Easthampton is a middle-tier school district in the Pioneer Valley, about 84 miles from downtown Boston as the crow flies and 122 minutes door-to-door at peak, and one of the more affordable markets we cover: roughly $450k for a 4BR house and $260k for a 2BR condo. The residential rate is $15.50 per $1,000, high for Massachusetts, which on a $450k house works out to about $7,000 a year. There is no MBTA rail here, so the commute is by car. The district sits in the 29th percentile statewide on MCAS. Mill buildings turned studios below Mount Tom.

The good, the bad, the ugly

From the data
Good

Among the cheapest housing we track — 18th of 241 at about $450k for a 4BR.

Bad

About 122 minutes to downtown at peak, and no rail to escape it.

Ugly

At 62% ownership, your neighbours are a moving target.

Schools and child caresolid schools · 29th MCAS · 1 schools

Public elementary & middle schools

1 public school in Easthampton — 1 middle
Elementary / middlePK–8 · 964 students

These are assigned by address, not chosen. A regional district’s schools appear on every member town’s page. Charters are public but allocated by lottery, and are listed separately below.

DESE 2025–26 enrolment report

Before kindergarten

Licensed programs 6 center-based · 9 family child care15
Licensed places, all ages The ceiling these programs may operate to415
Places in centers Commercial premises, licensed room by room349
Places in family child care A provider’s own home, mixed ages together66
Infant & toddler places in centers Age bands ending under three; family programs are not broken down73
Preschool places in centers Roughly 33 months to kindergarten176

Licensed capacity is not availability. These are places programs may operate, not vacancies. The age split covers centers only — family programs report no breakdown, so 73 is a floor on infant care here, not a count of it.

MA Dept. of Early Education and Care, pulled 2026-08-02 · search current openings

Public School Rankings

Official Massachusetts data (DESE)Result
MCAS achievement29th percentile statewide
Student growth (SGP)43rd percentile
4-year graduation rate93.1%
DESE accountabilityIn need of focused/targeted support

Each publisher ranks a different thing. A district, a locality, or one high school, each by its own method — shown separately, never blended.

MCAS percentile is the district’s statewide rank on % Meeting/Exceeding expectations, ELA + Math.

Latest school building project: Maple Elementary School was completed and received final-audit approval; total project budget was about $105.8 million. MSBA project list.

Charter School Options

4 charter schools near Easthampton
In EasthamptonTuition-free · lotteryK–8 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 50th pct · In need of focused/targeted support · $17k/pupil
Adjacent town · HolyokeTuition-free · lotteryK–8 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 52nd pct · Substantial progress toward targets · $21k/pupil
Adjacent town · South HadleyTuition-free · lottery7–12 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 36th pct · 94.2% graduate · Moderate progress toward targets · $18k/pupil
Adjacent town · HadleyTuition-free · lotteryK–12 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 64th pct · 100% graduate · Meeting or exceeding targets · $20k/pupil

Admission is by lottery, not address — a seat is never guaranteed. Some charters here are alternative or recovery high schools enrolling students already off-track, so their MCAS and graduation figures are not comparable with a traditional school’s.

Public and tuition-free; results from DESE

Available Private School Options

14 private schools in Easthampton and within 12 miles
In EasthamptonNEASC accredited7–13 · Middle / high · 501 students · 8.4:1 student-teacher · ~$40k–$52k/yr (est.) · ~$70k/yr boarding
In EasthamptonK–12 · PK/K–12 · files no enrolment with the state
Adjacent town · HolyokeK–12 + SP · Specialized / placement · 100 students · 3.8:1 student-teacher · placement/specialized
Adjacent town · Holyoke1–12 · PK/K–12 · 51 students · ~$28k–$44k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · Holyoke9–12 · High school · 12 students · ~$28k–$44k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · NorthamptonAISNE accreditedK–6 · Elementary / middle · 146 students · 7.4:1 student-teacher · ~$16k–$32k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · NorthamptonPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 116 students · ~$18k–$30k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · NorthamptonAISNE accreditedK–6 · Elementary / middle · 57 students · ~$22k–$36k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · Northampton3–12 · PK/K–12 · 20 students · ~$28k–$44k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · Chicopee9–12 · High school · 451 students · ~$18k–$28k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · ChicopeePK–8 · Elementary / middle · 262 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · ChicopeePK–8 · Elementary / middle · 195 students · 9.2:1 student-teacher · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · Chicopee3–12 · Specialized / placement · 90 students · 3.6:1 student-teacher · placement/specialized
Adjacent town · Chicopee1–12 + SP · Specialized / placement · 55 students · placement/specialized

Tuition is an estimated range by school type, not school-published pricing — a parochial school and an independent day school are priced very differently. Private schools sit no MCAS, so no figure here is a state measure.

How to read this list

Schools within 12 miles of Easthampton, from the MA DESE 2025–26 non-public enrollment report plus the Niche ranking of Massachusetts private high schools. Tuition shown as an estimated range by school type, grades and region — not school-published pricing. A parochial school and an independent day school are priced very differently, so treat these as a starting point and confirm with the school. Niche ranks private high schools only, so an elementary school never carries a number; where one shows a letter instead, that is Niche’s own overall grade, which reaches schools no ranked list does. Neither is a state measure — private schools sit no MCAS and report no results to Massachusetts. That Niche extract is also partial, so a school showing neither was not judged and found wanting; it may simply not have been in it. Student numbers are the figure schools do report, from the same DESE return. Where a student-teacher ratio is shown it is students over full-time-equivalent teachers in the federal Private School Universe Survey, 2021–22, the most recent published — a rough guide to class size, not a class size, and not a ranking either. It is shown only where that survey and the state agree on how many pupils the school has, which is why many schools here have none. Accreditation comes from the AISNE member directory, which records whether a school holds AISNE or NEASC accreditation — the two split the work by age rather than compete, AISNE taking the elementary and middle schools and NEASC the secondary ones. It means an outside body has reviewed the school against published standards on a ten-year cycle. It is not a measure of results, and its absence is not a mark against a school: plenty are not members at all. That directory is also where the schools marked files no enrolment with the state come from. They are real schools that simply make no return to Massachusetts, so the state holds no size for them and this page can show none — and for those, the grade range is read off AISNE’s age bands rather than taken from the school, so treat it as approximate and confirm with the school.

The vibe of Easthampton

Regional citiesCompact centremedium confidence

Active, town-centered/mixed, and well provided with recreation programs, playgrounds and athletic fields; mixed in housing stock, from multifamily properties and smaller condos to higher-priced single-family homes, with visible cultural identity, some visitor activity, and strong gathering-place network.

Energy7
Compact town center7
Family amenities5
Culture7
Visitor presence5
Public gathering places8

Six 1–10 scales for the intensity of each quality, not a score of how good the place is. Higher just means more of that thing. Family amenities counts public recreation infrastructure, not who lives here; these never use race, ethnicity or other protected characteristics, and never measure safety. See the methodology.

What it takes to live here$450k 4BR · ≈$7,000 tax
To buyMedian price (est.)
4BR / 2BA detached house$450k
3BR / 2BA townhouse$350k
2BR condo$260k
Property taxes (FY2026)$15.50 per $1,000 (1.55%)

These are modeled estimates, not listings. Each row opens the real Redfin market in ZIP 01027, and the two will not match.

To rentPer month (est.)
4 bedrooms$2,537/mo
3 bedrooms$2,347/mo
2 bedrooms$1,900/mo
1 bedroom$1,507/mo

These are benchmark rents, not asking rents. HUD sets them at the 40th percentile of standard-quality units, so a nice single-family will ask more — which is why the links are not capped at the figure beside them.

HUD FY2026 Small Area Fair Market Rents for Easthampton’s ZIP codes

Home values over the last decade

Easthampton home values, 2016–2026Zillow Home Value Index for Easthampton, 2016 to 2026: $250k to $445k, up 78 per cent.$227k$348k$469k20162026
Easthampton, 2016 to 2026: $250k to $445k, up 78% in 10 years — 5.9% a year compounded.
If a $450k house grew at…5 yrs10 yrs15 yrs30 yrs
5.9% — Easthampton’s own last decade$599k$798k$1.06M$2.51M
3% — inflation, holding its real value$522k$605k$701k$1.09M

These are not forecasts. They are what $450k becomes at a fixed rate, shown for two rates because nobody can tell you which one the next thirty years will bring. The last decade included a period of unusually fast growth across Massachusetts; repeating it for thirty years would be a strong assumption. The inflation row is the conservative case — a house that holds its value and earns nothing beyond it. History from the Zillow Home Value Index, a whole-town index that sits at a different level from the 4BR estimate above and is used here for the trend.

What’s around Easthampton

suburban1,217 people per square mile across 13.3 sq mi suburban — 500–2,000 per square mile

What’s hereCount
Cafés and coffee shops
See the list
5
Bookshops
See the list
3
Museums, theatres and galleries
See the list
2
Colleges and universities0
Public libraryEasthampton Public Library

Density is Census population over land area. Café, bookshop and culture counts are what is mapped in OpenStreetMap — a volunteer map, so a well-mapped town looks busier than a thinly-mapped one. Read a low count as “little mapped here”, not “nothing here”. Colleges are active degree-granting institutions in the federal IPEDS directory; enrolment and campus housing capacity are its 2023 figures. The public library comes from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, which lists library systems rather than every branch. These figures describe places, never the people in them — see our methodology.

Census snapshot
ACS 2019–2023 (via MAPC DataCommon)Share
Homeowner households62%
White (non-Hispanic)88%
Asian (non-Hispanic)2.0%
Latino / Hispanic6.0%
African American (non-Hispanic)1.0%
These figures are neutral census facts, shown for every town equally. They are never used to filter, rank, or recommend towns — see our methodology and the federal Fair Housing Act.

Town spending & civic data

EasthamptonFigure
Residents16,211
Municipal budgetFY2025, DLS Schedule A$57.3M
School district spending$31.5M
Spending per pupil DESE, total expenditures$18,410
School spending per resident$1,944
Affordable housing units (Ch. 40B inventory)711

Budget: FY2025 General Fund total expenditures, DLS Schedule A · Schools: DESE Per Pupil Expenditure · Affordable units: state Subsidized Housing Inventory. Never used to rank or filter towns.

Realistic alternatives to Easthampton

WestfieldTier 3
Also Tier 3, $440k for a 4BR and 126 min to Boston
AgawamTier 3
Also Tier 3, $425k for a 4BR and 122 min to Boston
South HadleyTier 3
Also Tier 3, 8 min closer to Boston
East LongmeadowTier 3
Also Tier 3, about $50k more expensive
LudlowTier 3
Also Tier 3, 11 min closer to Boston
GreenfieldTier 4
Tier 4, about $50k cheaper

Surprisingly similar in character

AttleboroTier 3
Both social and lively · $170k dearer, 56 min closer in
PeabodyTier 3
Both social and lively · $285k dearer, 77 min closer in
LeominsterTier 4
Both social and lively · 46 min closer in

Read next

How many times will your child change schools before high school?
At least one building here runs kindergarten through eighth grade — no mid-childhood school change at all.
6 min read
A school rating is an average. Of how many schools?
The district is a single school, so its rating is a promise about the exact building your child would attend.
6 min read
The state already grades every district. It costs $950,000 to buy into the top of it.
The state has this district as "in need of focused/targeted support", which is the rung at which it steps in.
7 min read
The better the schools, the more you pay to own instead of rent
A house here costs 15 years of the local rent, against a statewide median of 18 — one of the places where buying is cheap relative to renting.
6 min read
Data statusSome figures preliminary · reviewed August 14, 2026
FigureStatus
Home pricesCalibrated to the Zillow Home Value Index and Redfin market pages. For comparison, not appraisal.Preliminary
Property tax rateFY2026 residential rate per $1,000, from municipal assessor and treasurer pages.Preliminary
RentsHUD FY2026 Small Area Fair Market Rents, by ZIP.Sourced
School dataDESE published state reports. Publisher ranks carry their own edition and denominator. The school tier is editorial.Sourced
CommuteRail times for the 75 towns we could verify against the MBTA's published timetable are real scheduled journeys, transfers included. Where a town has rail but no verified journey, its rail time is modeled too, and the town page says so. Driving is modeled from distance with corridor adjustments, and station access is a flat allowance. Not measured by a routing API.Measured + modeled

This community was added after the original hundred, so its prices and tax rate are preliminary estimates pending verification against municipal and census records. Data last reviewed . Full detail on every source is in the methodology.

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